Chores and Kids

In my last post I mentioned I do not pay for chores. Never have, never will. Chores are part of being in a family. We all have responsibilities. Mine is to provide food, lodging, education and opportunities to my family. I take that serious. My kids have responsibilities, too. Kitchen duty, sweeping, vacuuming, cutting grass, raking leaves, doing laundry and even cooking. This let's them know what it takes to not only keep a family running but gives them life skills for when they get out on their own. If kids don't learn these skills how do they function, how do they take care of their families? Most all things are "chores" and should be shared by the family. Now, if the kids do special things like washing my car (never theirs) then I am inclined to sneak them a little something. When we have major things like putting up a new fence around the back yard, a new gate to the back yard, building new flower beds, etc. we do reward those efforts. We never promise or indicate a reward up front. We ask the kids to help and we reward based on their performance, attitude and willingness to be part of the project. The kids do not expect anything and it becomes a great family experience, they learn some new skills and we make things we can all be proud of!

Yes, my kids have the normal assortment of things...xbox, ipods, PC's for each of them, cars for those that drive...but these are either bought with their own money, are presents for work/birthday/Christmas or they are for the convenience of my wife and I. This includes cell phones and cars. Setting expectations on these items is important. More on that in a later post.